Montclair on screens big and small

A few years ago, John Finney noticed a film crew shooting a commercial across from his home on Montclair's Erwin Park. Intrigued, he strolled over to watch and ended up inviting the location scout to snap a few pictures of his place.

Nothing came of it, until recently.

"Out of the blue, David Cherella (an associate producer with Redline Films) calls and says, 'We want to use your house for a one-day shoot.' I said, 'Okay.' They paid me $1,000," Finney said.

Jerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerExtras sit quietly in a make-believe church, actually the Montclair Art Museum, during the taping of an episode of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" in Feb. 2007.

So on a Saturday in late January, Finney had a brush with filmdom in Montclair, one of New Jersey's hottest film locales. His home was turned into a set for the story of a 1920s boxer named Billy Mystery, and was also included in an episode of "Amazing Sports Stories" on Fox.

Rugs were rolled up. Period furniture was carted in. A Christmas tree was set up. Even the air felt different, thanks to a film-set humidifier. The actors sat down for a turkey dinner and said grace.

"It was like being at a seance," Finney said.

Similar moviemaking scenarios have been played out again and again in Montclair, which has built a rich film resume that Steven Gorelick of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission attributes to willing homeowners and, of course, its proximity to Manhattan.

Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal teamed up here twice -- in 1999 for "Analyze This" on the north end of Park Street and again for its 2002 sequel "Analyze That" on Wayside Place.

The 1995 cult classic "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" starred Wesley Snipes and Patrick Swayze in a tale of drag queens on a cross-country trip, and their beat-up Cadillac eventually landed on Upper Mountain Avenue. Kevin Bacon starred in "Loverboy" at the Bradford School on Mt. Hebron Road a decade later.

Last summer, makers of the soon-to-be released "Choke" worked at several locales in town including Mesob, an Ethiopian restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue.

The film, starring Academy Award-winner Anjelica Huston, is the story of a con artist (Sam Rockwell) who supports his hospitalized mother (Huston) by going to restaurants and pretending to choke on the food, getting sympathetic patrons who "save" him to send him money.

Montclair has starred on the small screen, too. Country music icon Faith Hill shot a music video for her song "Stealing Kisses" on Lloyd Road, and Rosie O'Donnell visited Midland Avenue for a taping of "The Big Gay Show."

The crew of "Law & Order" shepherded 150 extras into Leir Hall at the Montclair Art Museum last year for an episode called "Sin." The series "Ed" and "Let's Buy a House" and the reality show "Wife Swap" have all come to the township in search of
classic, Norman Rockwell-like backdrops.

Often, it's all very hush-hush.

"A need-to-know basis," one ABC-TV spokeswoman said of the silence surrounding the "Wife Swap" shoot on Melrose Place in 2004.

Earlier this spring, filmmakers quietly lined up Montclair High to film "Lymelife," a drama that chronicles the moral deterioration of a family as it navigates the pitfalls of a failing marriage.

The cast includes Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City" fame, Emma Roberts (niece of Oscar winner Julia Roberts) and two Culkins -- Rory and Kieran -- of the clan best-known for big brother Macaulay and his role in 1990's "Home Alone." "Lymelife" is scheduled for release in January 2009.

Star-Ledger File PhotoA film crew from "The Sopranos" sets up in front of Montclair High School last year.

"The Sopranos" made several offers the township couldn't refuse, resulting in shoots at Applegate Farm, South End Hardware, Tierney's Tavern and a former rest home on Madison Avenue.

"They were paying good money to use my place and not be pestered," said Bill Tierney, the tavern's manager.

Then there are the commercials: Gerber Baby Food, Papa John's Pizza, Kmart, McDonald's, Cheerios, Brawny and Preparation H, to name a few. A number of enthusiastic Montclair residents even "list" their homes as potential settings for film shoots.

"They enjoy doing it for one reason or another," said Betty Rankin, whose company, Locations Unlimited, maintains a website with a photo gallery of homes ready for use by film crews. A recent search for "Montclair" on her site, bettyrankin.com, returned 98 results.

It takes a certain kind of person, Rankin said, to open up a home to film crews.
"It's a lot of people in your house at one time," she said. "If you don't have the right temperament for it, it's not for you."

In Finney's case, it was an ideal match.

"At the end of the day, everything was put back within centimeters of where it was before," he said of the film shoot at his home.

Not only that. It turns out Redline producer Cherella was looking for an extra for an "Amazing Sports Story" episode about the "Steagles," the temporary National Football League merger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles during World War II.

"We were looking for an executive," Cherella said of a scene involving negotiations among NFL brass.